Gaffer to Goalscorer

Late drama sees the lions stand firm against title favourites!

Bourton have had a strong start to the season, winning their first two matches 4-0 and 5-0 against 2 tough teams in Bletchingdon (who thumped Hailey Reserves 9-0) and Witney Wanderers. However they dropped their first points against a very strong Aston Reserves side at the Den.

With the first team not having a game, it proved to be excellent timing with Aston struggling to get a side together, with regulars Cheese, Edney, Josh and Wooder amongst others all unavailable for the game. A new recruit in Danny Rayfield was drafted in to replace Josh in goal, along with a handful of first team players. Hambigio dropped himself to the bench and it meant that Aston had all of the management team on the sidelines, shouting, appealing and in some cases abusing the team in front of them.

Aston started the game brightly and tested the defence with some through balls falling to both Fleming, who had an effort cleared off the line, and Lewis, who hit the crossbar. The shape looked good, people were generally getting goalside and not jumping into tackles, the Gaffa was almost happy. Aston looked the better side and the team were all playing well. With not long before the half time whistle to go, Warren got caught out by some clever attacking play. The ball was whipped in and he attacked the ball in the air, only to knock over the Bourton man. Their man stepped up and put the ball in the corner with Rayfield unlucky not to save it.

HALF TIME Aston 0-1 Bourton

In the second half it was more of the same, a fairly even match with Aston having the better chances. Around the 60th minute the ball was in the box above Austin and Bourton decided to do an absolute replica of the penalty they won in the first half and bring Warren down. Up stepped Thor foot, I mean Lewis, to put the ball in the top left. 1-1.

With both Wooder and Dave on the sidelines, the third goal was somewhat missed by all the management team who were talking tactics. The linesman had his flag up though and instead of checking with him, the ref decided to blow his whistle, ignore the shout and give the goal to Bourton, who now lead 2-1.

With only a few minutes left on the clock, it was time to push bodies on, playing 3-4-3 with Hambidge at RW. With some good work down the left handside by Reece the ball was whipped in. Lewis picked up the loose ball only to scuff his shot. The ball was about to be cleared when Fleming blocked the attempt and it fell to the back post, where Hambidge had timed his run perfectly to put the ball in the roof of the net from 10 yards. Celebrations erupted at the Den with Lewis running faster than anyone has seen him before to bundle the scorer. What a goal. What a time to score it. What a man to score it! 2-2.

A well-deserved point for Aston, who perhaps given the chances could have won the match.

MOM voted for by Bourton was Danny Rayfield

Team:

• Rayfield – GK – 9 – Collected crosses well and was unlucky not to save the penalty. STAR MAN
• Dudley – RB – 7 – covered the right side well, despite them overloading on that side
• Cross – CB – 9 – superbly dealt with everything in the air and battled well at the back
• Rowe – CB – 8 – solid game marshalling the defence and sweeping up nicely
• Wain – LB – 8 – gave their RW nowhere to go and also provided the attacking threat from full back
• Hewer – CM – 7 – Solid as ever, battled for everything. Wanted to win everything.
• Goodchild – CM – 7 – Kept shape nicely and broke up the attack well from the middle of the park
• Smith – RM – 7 – A threat when he had the ball, but was forced inside to get more of it
• Austin – LM – 7 – Steady game, will obviously get better with more games under his belt. Won a penalty and gave one away.
• Fleming Snr – AM – 9 – Ran tirelessly for the team and put in a great shift. Unlucky not to be rewarded with a goal. Booked
• Lewis – ST – 8 – Met his match in the air (almost) and scored a top penalty. Booked.

Subs:
• Glaister – 7 – Steadied the ship and provided some fresh legs for Jack c.55th minute. Outstanding in the air for such a small bloke.
• Kennedy – 8 – Fresh legs at LW for Austin and then up top, caused the defence a new problem with his movement c.60th minute
• Hambidge – 10 – Unbelievable 5 minutes, coming on at RW and scoring a last minute equaliser. On for Smith c.85th minute.